You could describe an office building as a complex, functional system designed to enable people to carry out their jobs and accomplish their company's purpose. Well-educated people designed and constructed all the sub-systems (like electrical) that make it work.
A honey bee hive is a complex, functional system constructed by bees in the wild or in human-made devices. Individual bees carry out their jobs in this home which provides for their needs while they accomplish the mission to produce honey.
Intelligent, these bees. They start working at their jobs when they're three weeks old. The ones who build the hive don't go to hive-building college, since they're born knowing exactly what to do. How, exactly, do they know that?
Glands in their bodies create construction material: "Wax is an expensive commodity and so comb construction can be quite costly for a honey bee colony. Honeycomb is constructed in such a way to minimize wax consumption." Like a responsible human engineering firm.
Its hexagonal pattern gives optimal strength and stability to its material (wax), while it optimizes space and thermal efficiency for its purpose. "The use of hexagonal honeycombs by bees is not a coincidence" (Boston Research Journal published this week).
from Evolution News
(cont'd tomorrow)
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